Couldn't Stay Away!

I miss putting down my thoughts, ideas, words where I can go back easily and review them once in awhile so here I am again. It's Christmas Eve 2019. The old ceramic tree (1972) is decorated and the home-made crystal ornaments that my brother created hang in the windows. The family nearest, all have colds, so we will be staying home. Cards have been exchanged. We like quiet times now.

I want to tell you about a couple of small gifts I had made from my photography efforts. One was a fractureme.com 5"x 5" glass tile of our great grandson twins in the stroller. They are 10 mos. old. The tile is nice. I don't like the glare of the glass, though.

          The other has a story and here it is:

This artistic wall tile started out with a maple leaf-shaped bottle that I picked up at “Big Al’s” yard sale when I was riding the golf car taking pictures in the Heart Lake area. I brought it home, cleaned it out with buckshot and later that year gave it to my brother, Paul. He has made maple syrup for many years and the bottle seemed a suitable gift. Wouldn’t you know, he surprised me with re-gifting it back for my birthday that year filled with the wonderful light amber sweet syrup. Before using the contents, I placed it on the countertop in front of the kitchen window to enjoy the sparkling dark honey yellow colors. After I saw the resulting image, I just had to do more with it. I cropped out the background, found one that suited my eyes better, added maple leaves in the foreground and had a creative rendition made into an 8"x 8" photo wall tile. It is a photo placed on a foam backing with a beveled edge and came with self-adhesive magnets included for super easy hanging and repositioning. This is a Christmas gift for a grandson and his partner for their home. It really came out great.

Merry Christmas to all!